Title information:

Synopsis:

Set adfrit on the ocean in a small skiff as a newborn, twelve-year-old Crow embarks on a quest to find the missing pieces of her history. From the author of the Newbery Honor-winning Wolf Hollow.

Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Massachusetts—a small spit of land caught in the long shadow of the abandoned Penikese leper colony. Her only companions are Osh, the man who rescued her from a tiny skiff as an infant and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their neighbor across the sandbar. But it isn’t until the night in 1925 when a mysterious fire appears across the water that an unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart and an unstoppable chain of events is triggered. Using her bravery and perseverance, Crow must follow clues that lead not only to personal treasures, but also to uncovering her lost identity and, ultimately, understanding the true meaning of family.

Stunningly vivid and heartfelt, Lauren Wolk’s Beyond the Bright Sea is a gorgeously crafted and tensely paced tale that explores questions of identity, strength, and belonging.

Full review:

I adored Wolk's Wolf Hollow, so I was absolutely thrilled when I opened up a package from Penguin, only to find Beyond the Bright Sea inside.

Wolk spins a classic bildungsroman, where twelve-year-old Crow seeks to discover her roots in the 1920s. She's live a contented and happy life, but a chance moment in time leads her to want to learn more about who she is, and where she comes from.

Like Wolf Hollow, Wolk displays an impeccable way with words and research, throughout Beyond the Bright Sea. Her sentences are short and reflective of Crow's twelve-year-old mindset, but also used to show the tightly-knit world that Crow has grown up in, particularly with her adopted father and her kind neighbor Miss Maggie.

Though Crow's journey to finding out her who she is and where she's meant to be, Wolk stresses the importance of family, and what it means to make a family out of who you are and where you're meant to be. It is an important, beautiful lesson that is important for young readers, and will resonate deeply, even after they've finished reading.

With beautifully developed characters and splendid writing, this is another Wolk book that you absolutely cannot miss. Highly recommend, full stop.

About the author:

Lauren Wolk is an award-winning poet, artist, and author of the adult novel Those Who Favor Fire and the Newbery Honor-winning middle grade novel Wolf Hollow. She was born in Baltimore and has since lived in California, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Canada, and Ohio. She now lives with her family on Cape Cod.